A former minister has hailed Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz as a 'people's hero' for standing up against the Johor crown prince.

Zainuddin Maidin ( photo ) said this in response to Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim who took a swipe at Nazri in an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini.

"The Johor crown prince said Nazri is stupid, reckless and unworthy to be a minister.

"Far from that, he is qualified (to be a minister) because he is brave to fight the royalty based on his rights. The people's hero," said the ex-information minister in a Twitter posting today.

Tunku Ismail had described Nazri as a "not very bright" person.

Nazri and Tunku Ismail had been engaged in a tit-for-tat after the latter criticised Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as someone who had "everything to hide" in the 1MDB controversy last month.

This prompted Nazri to warn the Johor crown prince not to interfere in politics or be prepared to be "whacked" .

Following this, Tunku Ismail posted a silent video on Facebook, where he merely beckoned in an apparent message to Nazri to " bring it on ".

In a separate Facebook posting today, Tunku Ismail said he is seen as the "bad guy" for speaking up.

However, Tunku Ismail said he still voiced out anyway as nobody else would.

"Because everybody else keeps quiet and I speak, I am the bad guy," he said in a posting on the Johor Southern Tigers page.

Oleh kerana orang lain berdiam diri, saya pun terpanggil untuk bersuara. Sayalah terpaksa jadi 'orang jahat'. Saya...

Posted by JOHOR Southern Tigers on  Wednesday, 1 July 2015

Tunku Ismail said it was ultimately up to the people on how they want to judge him.

"I am a very transparent, direct and honest person. How the public want to view that, I leave it up to them.

"It is up to them to decide, that is their right, not mine but I do not want to be a hypocrite," he said.

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